Graft case may have caused Perak PR’s fall, court told
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
The agent provocateur hired to lure two former PKR assemblymen admitted to a Sessions Court here today that he was aware their involvement could have been one of the causes behind the fall of the Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government.
Mohamad Imran Abdullah, the star witness in the corruption trial, however claimed that he did not know details on how the two accused — Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu — had quit PKR to become Barisan Nasional (BN)-friendly independents.
Their defections, along with that of DAP’s Hee Yit Foong, and the return of Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim from PKR back to Umno, triggered PR’s fall in Perak last February.
S. Muthu, representing former Perak Tengah district councillor Zul Hassan who is also accused of graft, wrangled the statement out of Mohamad Imran when he tried to pin a theory on the latter that the corruption case had been designed specifically to entrap the former executive councillors.
Muthu: At the time of the incident, who was the Perak government? PR or BN?
Mohamad Imran: PR.
Muthu: From the recorded conversations played in this court (between Mohamad Imran and the other accused), it is clear the main target is to trap Mohd Osman and Jamaluddin.
Mohamad Imran: I disagree.
Muthu: But the main purpose is to catch them.
Mohamad Imran: Not true.
Muthu: From the point of view of a third party like me, upon hearing the recorded conversations, am I right when I say the targets were Mohd Osman and Jamaluddin? That is the impression I would get?
Mohamad Imran: That, I do not know.
In the recorded conversations which were played before the court last week, Mohamad Imran was heard asking (the late and former Perak Development Corporation technician) Ruslan as well as PKR assemblyman Usaili Alias, another accused, several times to set up meetings with both Mohd Osman and Jamaluddin.
Muthu: Who is in government now?
Mohamad Imran: It is the BN.
Muthu: What is the reason behind the collapse of the PR?
Mohamad Imran: According to speculations, it is because of this corruption case.
Whispers resounded in the courtroom when Mohamad Imran made his statement.
Muthu: So, this happened when Mohd Osman and Jamaluddin resigned to become independents in support of the BN.
Mohamad Imran: (Pause) I don’t know this. I really don’t.
Muthu: Then one DAP assemblyman also left PR to become an independent, yes?
Mohamad Imran: I am not sure.
Muthu: When the three left, that was when the PR fell?
Mohamad Imran: (Long pause then shakes his head) I do not know how to answer your question. I don’t know this.
At this juncture, the courtroom rumbled with murmurs as Muthu lambasted Mohamad Imran for claiming not to be aware of how the political crisis had started in Perak.
“Don’t you watch the news or read the newspapers? How can you not know this?” he said.
Mohamad Imran later testified that Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman had only become targets in the corruption case after Usaili had told him that Jamaluddin could help him obtain a project.
The project was a RM180 million housing development in Seri Iskandar, the project that Jamaluddin, Mohd Osman, Ruslan, Zul, Usaili and businessman Fairul Azrim Ismail are jointly charged for having accepted bribes to help Mohamad Imran obtain. Mohamad Imran said that in his dealings with Firdaus Mohd Idris, an officer with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) — then known as the Anti-Corruption Commission — he had initially been employed to be an agent provocateur to trap Ruslan and not the others.
Muthu: To your knowledge, Firdaus was ordered by another group specifically to cause the fall of the Perak PR government? He was asked to come up with a plan to topple the government, yes?
Mohamad Imran: I do not know.
Muthu: So now I am saying that all these meetings with Ruslan and the others, they were just a part of a plan by Firdaus to topple the PR in Perak.
Muthu: I disagree.
Later, laughter was heard in court when Muthu asked to replay the sex video allegedly of Zul and a Chinese national, which took place at the Sri Sayang Apartments in Batu Feringghi, Penang, on Aug 14, 2008.
